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Respect due to Bruce Golding

I have always respected Bruce Golding, even at times when we do not agree on issues.

He is usually forthright, honest in his pronouncements, and the fact that he is the second most articulate individual in politics that Jamaica has produced (Michael Manley wears the crown) makes the job of digesting whatever he has to say, much easier.

His comments about the ungodly and immoral action by United States President Donald Trump against Venezuela last week, suggested that Golding has reached a point where he realises that someone, outside of another former prime minister, PJ Patterson, has to speak out. For if the leaders of Caribbean nations dare to do that, they would be forever blacklisted by the Trump Administration for the Lord knows how long.

He also used the adjective ‘Megalomaniac’ to describe Trump, meaning a person who is obsessed with power, or has an obsessive desire for it; whose behaviour, globally, is dangerous, unpredictable and aggressive. Now, for a man who held the reins of political power in Jamaica from September 2007 to October 2011, that’s tough talk. 

When Golding chided Trump, describing him as reckless and a threat to international peace, he was echoing the sentiments of, in my estimation, a majority of people around the world. 

He also, quite appropriately, slapped Trump and his unruly tribe, for operating as ‘judge, jury, and executioner’, in respect of killings aboard boats in Caribbean waters.

Maybe Trump will pay attention to Golding. Maybe he won’t. But in any case, the leader of the world’s most prominent nation ought to consider Golding’s words in one of his moments of solitary reflection. For Golding did not emerge from the storeroom to simply vent about actions from a bully who is deeply destabilising the world. He did so because he was concerned, in a massive way, about the welfare of billions across the globe, going on to liken Trump to a raging bull mowing through Half-Way-Tree, knocking down everything in its way. Although it’s more like a charging bull in Delhi, India, as any bull that tries that in Half-Way-Tree would end up in more pots than you can imagine by later in the day.

His criticism of Trinidad & Tobago’s prime minister Kamla Persad Bissessar in supporting the foolishness, was as accurate as one can get. The people of T&T must be lowering their collective head in shame.

Well said, Bruce Golding. Maybe he will now be called ‘comrade’, for taking a position that does not reflect a right-of-centre approach that the Jamaica Labour Party that he has led, has pushed over the years. This is not about partisan politics. It is all about fairness.

Bruce should continue to go public with matters of similar nature. I have always admired him and speak highly about his brilliance, which only Everald Warmington cannot see. For a man to speak consistently and flawlessly without prepared texts, he must be special.

I have told the story before, but will touch on it again, about Bruce, as prime minister, turning up to address a function without being given relevant information about it by his communication handlers. He approached me, then beckoned to another journalist nearby and asked what the function was about, and we basically gave him information about it in a nutshell. Shockingly, he stepped to the platform and gave a magnificent speech that left my colleague and I wide-eyed in amazement, that he could have expanded on the limited information that we provided and turned it into an oral masterpiece.

That was special, just as his latest missive is.  

The PNP and its future

It is now just over four months since the People’s National Party bowed to the Jamaica Labour Party in a general election, although the losing party made progressive strides with a 100 per cent improvement in its seat count compared to five years before.

Yes, there were cries of corruption, which included vote buying, and I believe that it played a part in determining the final result. That aside, it is also easy to accept that the PNP would have increased its stock if the party had better candidates in some key seats. St Elizabeth South Eastern with Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott, and Trelawny Northern with Dr K Wykeham McNeill, are two examples…among others.

What, therefore, will happen henceforth? For starters, the final result would have set back the party’s president Mark Golding, in such a way that some were calling for his neck to be placed on the chopping block. It is my view that Golding has much more to offer, but the decision to step aside as head of the party, or continue, should be left entirely to him.

Looking to the future though, the party appears to be limited in its choices for a successor. Apart from Julian Robinson, who is a natural, my binoculars are only picking up Natalie Neita Garvey and Nickeisha Burchell as possibilities, with debutant parliamentarians Zuleika Jess, and Dr Al Dawes a bit further down the road.

Right now, with what has been happening after Hurricane Melissa, incumbent general secretary Dr Dayton Campbell should not be expected to carry the additional burden of that taxing job, as well as serving as one of the party’s representatives on the Electoral Commission. Much of the Westmoreland Eastern constituency that he represents, was badly damaged, and the Government will do him few favours that will make him look good. That’s the reality, so he must be creative, which takes a lot of time.

For general secretary, Kern Spencer, the former Member of Parliament and Parliamentary Secretary, seems the logical choice. He is one of the top-tier organisers around, and if the party is serious, he ought to be given serious consideration.

There are those who would want to slaughter him for indiscretions of the past, and in one high-profile matter, he took the fall for others, on the way to being acquitted by the court

By the way, I noticed that Mark Golding made the backward move of appointing Maureen Webber as a commissioner to sit with Dr Campbell on the nine-member Commission, as PNP selectees, thus chasing former rep Wensworth Skeffrey out of town.

Webber, is handicapped by a fast-speaking, low-tone style, which is not a big deal, but it is her knowledge of the ‘ground’ that is critical.

Stalwarts like Peter Bunting, Raymond Pryce, Neita Garvey, or Robinson, who all understand turf, could have been use in that role.

That retrograde move by Golding could backfire.

Reorganising of the party, in order to preserve a viable opposition, must start now, and with the right people in the existing places.

Still too many killings by security forces

Again, something must be said about the rampaging operations by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and the Jamaica Defence Force.

Too many people have been shot dead, and the usual stories of the later deceased approaching the security forces with a machete, yes indeed, and was shot; or when they went to premises to accost a man, an individual pointed a gun at them and was shot. There are others too.

But do four-year-olds point guns at the police or soldiers? Is everybody so mad that they all point guns at the police whenever they are confronted? Is this a game called ‘Suicide Scheme’, that those who supposedly attack the police end up dead?

People, this foolishness of us being given the same old story of how the police and soldiers often come under attack, must end, because we all know that nothing like that happens with the frequency that the security forces report them.

Last year, there were 311 killings by the police, a vast majority of them, in my estimation, not legally done. That number too, does not include those who were murdered by police actively performing duties as hired civilian gunmen. Since the start of 2026, more lives have been cut short by the security forces, than days that have gone by. What is really happening? Is there a mandate from some powerful figure that the armed forces should concentrate on not arresting suspects, but rather to shoot them on spot and cut out the seeming rigmarole of going through the judicial process? It looks bad on Jamaica, because while officials are knocking their glasses filled with spirits that murders decreased last year, they must be concerned about the shocking jump in killings by the security forces.

It is something that must be addressed as a matter of urgency. The fact that the police will not wear body cameras gifted to them by overseas donors suggests that there is a lack of respect for all.

The Commissioner of Police is duty-bound to the people of Jamaica to explain exactly what has been happening, and why there are so many killings that involve his men in particular. 

The word ‘Peace’ in the Ministry of National Security and Peace, must stand for something.

Saluting Excelsior High School

The long-awaited win by Excelsior High School in the Manning Cup and Olivier Shield football competitions capped a season in which the team played consciously and, fittingly, ended with the main prizes after a 21-year drought.

School principal Deanroy Bromfield, a St Elizabeth man, must still be beaming with pride, as the school was one of a few that played the style of football that could take the players far if they continue in similar manner.

Excelsior never indulged too much in the regular long ball kick and run from the 1950s that the majority of schools opted for – a tribute to educator and coach Keon Broderick. And as I watched the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal match between Egypt and the Ivory Coast on Saturday, January 10, Excelsior’s players, though much younger, displayed some traits of the African giants, with short, snappy passes, and running into space, instead of booting the ball frequently downfield and dreaming of outrunning Usain Bolt, to catch it.

The school looked good. Like most institutions of its kind, the past students seem to be playing key roles in the progress achieved days before the school turns 95 on January 19. Let me hope that more of the shining lights of academic performance, with an undying love for sport will also get on board. I shall see if I can whisper in the ears of my friends W. Earl Witter, and A J Nicholson to determine, assuming they are not members of the formal Past Students Association, if they could also play a role in strengthening the cause. Then we could all drink to that, as long as Witter is buying.